Thud! Thud!
Vincent's eyes widened in disbelief as the people before him fell one by one. His heart pounded, making it difficult for him to breathe. He felt as if his heart was on the brink of bursting.
"Aghhh!" Auri groaned. "Big sister...Big brother..." She cried. "It hurts! Help me!"
Tears rolled down Vincent's eyes as he stared in terror and disbelief. He was the reason for all of this. It was all his fault.
"LIVIA!" Varlo roared. "What's the meaning of all this! Didn't you say it was safe!!! How did they get infected!!!"
The veins on his forehead bulged up, his blood boiling in anger.
Livia remained silent, staring at Vincent seriously, ignoring Auri, who was rolling at her feet and coughing blood.
"YOU!" Varlo glared at Vincent. "It's all your fault."
Thud!
Varlo bumped into Livia as he passed, his eyes directed solely on Vincent, ready to kill him.
Swing!
Suddenly, Varlo stopped before his bed.
A red line appeared on his neck.
Splasssh!
The flesh separated.
Blood splashed.
Gruughhh...
The sound of choking filled the room as Varlo instinctively put his hands around his neck.
The sound of blood and air mixing up as he choked was horrendous, but not just him; everyone choked on their blood.
"Y-Y-yo.."
With his eyes wide in terror, Varlo glanced back at Livia.
Thud!
He collapsed on the ground.
"Short-sighted fool," Livia stared at him coldly, holding the sharp scalper she used to slice his throat.
Vincent raised his head, looking at Livia in terror. He couldn't believe what he just witnessed.
"W-What's the meaning of this...Y-You...What are you doing?"
"Vincent." Livia leaned toward Vincent, "You started this zombie apocalypse. The zombie virus stems from you."
Vincent's eyes widened. He instantly suppressed his feelings, an ability even he didn't know had gained in the past few days.
He had to suppress his feelings as he possibly faced an existential crisis.
"Y-You, how do you know?" he asked, not bothering to hide it. One look at her, and he could tell. It was not a guess; she was certain.
"My eyes," She pointed the scalper at her eyes, unbothered by the groan of pain and the blood-choking sounds. By now, blood had covered the floor. "I can see things others can't. I can see the particles of the virus in the air. The amount emitting from you is even larger than that of the zombies."
"T-Then, you knew this would happen?" An intense anger lit up within Vincent. "Then why did you bring everyone here!! WHY! Why did you when you knew they would get infected!!!"
The corners of Livia's mouth curled up into a smile. "Why?" The smile turned into a crazed one. "I'm granting them a miracle," she said, opening her arms wide. She stared at the ceiling crazily, her eyes trembling.
"The zombie virus is a miracle. A true miracle bestowed by the heavens. Thanks to it, we humans won't face extermination." She glared at everyone struggling on the ground in disdain. "Instead of running from it, those fools need to embrace it. If they survive, they are a part of the chosen ones; if not, they can blame their fate."
Vincent started at Livia in horror. He couldn't believe the words that just came out of her mouth. "You are crazy,"
"No, I am reasonable and right,"
"YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" Vincent roared. "Miracle? It's a disaster. It takes innocent lives!"
"There are no innocent," she glared at Vincent. "And do you realize how many lives the virus will save?"
"The virus? Save lives?" Vincent couldn't believe the absurdity of her words.
"The virus will awaken the dormant abilities in the human body,"
"The humans can awaken their abilities even without the virus!!" Vincent roared.
"They can." Livia nodded in agreement. "But they have to face mortal danger. And how many can survive that mortal danger? Certainly not many. So, the number of awakened humans would be far lower without the virus. The virus helps them awaken without the risk of death. It's a miracle."
Vincent shook his head in disbelief. 'She lost it. She has completely gone crazy.'
"You are crazy. " Vincent's anger was indescribable. He wanted to kill her. But no matter how angry he was, in the end, he was just a coward, afraid of death. Afraid Livia would kill him. He hated himself for it, but he couldn't change it.
Thud!
Aurielle grabbed Livia's feet. She stopped coughing blood and could speak again. "Sister...My head...it hurts." She cried, unable to open her eyes from pain. "Please help me."
"Ohh?" Livia's eyes widened, directing her attention at Aurielle. She crouched, carefully observing her.
"As expected of my little angel," Livia smiled kindly, patting her head gently. "Go to sleep. When you wake up, you won't feel pain."
Livia grabbed Aurielle's neck, applying strong pressure on her carotid artery. Pressure strong enough just to knock her unconscious.
She raised and looked around the room.
The people around still struggled, but they slowly gave out.
The first one to breathe his last breath was the old man—Aurielle's grandfather.
The rest died not long after him.
"Sighh..." Livia shook her head in disappointment. They all died." But a smile instantly appeared as she looked at Aurielle on the ground. Still, it's not bad. One awakened."
Vincent stared in disgust.
"You are disgusting," He uttered. "How can you act as if you care about her? How can you act kind when you are a devil? After you killed her grandfather?"
Livia shrugged her shoulders. "Is it my fault? He was not chosen. It was his fate to die."
Vincent had no words. He didn't know what to say anymore.
And Livia didn't wait for his words. She walked up to a man and turned him on his back.
SHLUCK!
Blood splashed around as she pulled out a long screwdriver from the inner pocket of her white coat and pierced the man's eye.
The screwdriver pierced into the skull of the man, killing the brain.
She did this to everyone, taking care of them before they turned into zombies—to everyone except Varlo.
"Now, now," She turned sharply at Vincent.
"What is it?" Vincent suddenly got a bad feeling.
She reached into her pocket, taking out a syringe and a clean needle wrapped in a plastic wrapper.
Livia attached the needle to the syringe and walked up to Vincent.
"What do you intend to do?" Vincent questioned.
"Don't move," She leaned, looking for the vein on his right arm. "It'll be bad if the vein ruptures."
"Agh..."
Vincent felt a sharp pain as Livia inserted the needle into his vein.
He didn't want to play according to her will, but he had no choice. He didn't want his vein ruptured.
In just a few seconds, Livia filled the syringe and pulled out the needle.
"What do you need it for?" Vincent asked.
Livia stared at the syringe full of violet blood, her eyes trembling in excitement. "I want to see what would happen if I inject your blood into an awakened."
'He should turn into a zombie, right?' Vincent thought, thinking back to Marin.
Livia quickly walked to Varlo and crouched.
She inserted the needle in the vein right below the ear, above the cut on his neck. This was closest to his brain, so the virus would reach it quickly.
Clack!
Inserting the blood, she threw the syringe.
Livia stared at Varo's body in anticipation.
'Probe,'
And while she stared at Varlo, Vincent finally had the chance to use his skill on her.
[Name: Livia]
[Race: Awakened Human]
[Strength: 11]
[Stamina: 9]
[Agility: 12]
[Perception: 18]
'Such high stats!' Vincent's eyes widened. 'Her stats are the highest I saw since I got this strange system,'
'So when one awakens, they not only gain a special ability, their body becomes stronger.' He analyzed. 'If everyone who awakens has stats like her, they should have no problem facing the zombies or the demons.'
If nothing else, the knowledge that the awakened humans could easily deal with the zombies made him feel slightly better. At least they were safe from his evil.
"I don't know if it'll work,"
Vincent's thoughts were interrupted by Livia.
"I tested injecting the blood of zombies into ordinary corpses. They turned into zombies, but I don't know if it'll work on corpses of awakened people."
She continued staring at the corpse.
"OHH?" Her eyes sparked.
The veins on Varlo's body bulged up, and his eyes turned white. He showed signs of turning.
"The awakened aren't affected by the virus in the air, but it seems that directly injecting them with your blood turns them into zombies."
It didn't take long, all the veins on Varlo's body bulged up and turned purple. His color turned pale. The small amount of blood still coming from his wound turned green, and the veins went from purple to green as the color of the blood flowing changed.
The fingers of the zombie moved.
"Grrr..."
It growled.
"It worked!"
Livia exclaimed happily as she stepped back, looking at the zombie slowly rising from the ground.